What’s struck me about Alpha Protocol, based on the amount I’ve played thus far, is that despite the rather vanilla storyline (oil controls everything, corporations and PMCs are bad, can’t trust governments, nobody is who they seem, etc.), the mission structure and conversation system really create a good sense of actually playing as a spy. By that, I mean it’s not just running around shooting the terrorist bad guys…there are missions where you go to a suspected safehouse and attempt to say the right pass phrase, or sit down at an outdoor cafe and have a talk with a menacing adversary. And though there is ample opportunity to run around shooting terrorists, there are investigation elements to it that remind me of why I enjoyed Heavy Rain so much, as well as moments where I know that I have to make important but ambiguous decisions that I can’t go back and change.